NFL anthem protests: Colin Kaepernick, Black Lives Matter – what came before and what will happen next
- New NFL season gets underway against backdrop of widespread sporting protests
- Long history of anthem protest in US sport continued with Kansas City Chiefs and Texas Rangers season opener
It is understatement to say times have changed since Patrick Mahomes guided the Kansas City Chiefs to the Super Bowl back in February bringing to an end the 2020 season in some style.
The NFL, like every other sporting body, has had some things to deal with in the intervening months thanks to the global spread of the coronavirus pandemic putting its players, staff and officials in jeopardy and the rise of Black Lives Matter protests pointing out that for many of them, their lives long have been.
American football is a fascinating crucible to view the change US society has undergone in these last few months. Famously it was San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick that began to kneel during The Star Spangled Banner ahead of NFL games – and it was the league, its owners and its fans that turned on him.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has admitted that he might have got it wrong. He told Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man host Emmanuel Acho just that in an interview last month.
“Well the first thing I’d say is I wish we had listened earlier, Kap, to what you were kneeling about and what you were trying to bring attention to,” Goodell said.
“We had invited him in several times to have the conversation, to have the dialogue. I wish we had the benefit of that. We never did. We would’ve benefited from it, absolutely.”